Is Google ok with one sever, multiple sites with own dedicated IPs?

I have 8 sites. 5 of them are for the same business but different branches. eg. Wedding dresses, plus size dresses, cocktail dresses... Each are for the same business. Currently i have most of the sites on different servers.

Ideally I want them all on the same server. But, I was told a while back that having them all on the same server is not a good idea because Google doesn't like a business having more than one website.

I am wondering two things. 1. Is the above statement true? 2. If I get one server and put a dedicated ip on each domain would that act like it is different servers?

Thanks. But your sites similar or an offshoot of the same company?
What I am concerned about is Google not positioning us well for each because there are multiple sites promoting the one company--although different services.

You can run multiple sites in same server. There is no harm in terms of what Google is thinking. But beware before linking them with each other, you have to be very careful in this.

As far as having multiple IP is concerned and with my experience, its a good ploy but there is always a restriction on the number of IP which can be obtained for hosting sites in a single server without mentioning the proper reason behind this. Even I thought of this same thing, but my server company denied me coz my intention was to link every sites to each other without getting penalized by Google. These policy are very strict.

As long as you are running the sites for your customers and haven't simply setup a network of site to try and game rankings or pagerank you will be find hosting them on the same server and same IP, just make sure your not linking them all together in a spammy way as that could cause problems no matter where they are hosted!

For your IP question, I wouldn't worry about paying for different IPs for each site because as above, if your doing the sites in a engine friendly way (IE not door way pages or a network) you will be fine.

Bottom line, as long as your sites have been built for your visitors and are not being used to try and manipulate rankings or boost pagerank they will be fine no matter where you host them

One thing I will ask though, your sites are all about dresses, so why do you feel the need to have them spread across multiple sites instead of building one great site? Not only is it easier to manage a single site then several, but you will also find it easier to rank as one large brand site is likely to gain more authority etc then 6 small sites as your efforts are diluted.

If your still not sure about the answers you getting, you could share a couple of the domains in question so we may have a look to see if/how your linking them together?

Thanks guys. I am getting there with the confidence on this.
I have a main, super site, it is ditalia .com .au and two examples of the smaller, more specific sites, are: weddingdressesgowns .com .au and motherofthebridedress .com .au there will be melbournedressmakers .com .au , designerfabric .com .au ... The reason I am doing this is so I can promote to the specific target market without giving them a bunch of non-relevant links and copy. eg. If a woman is looking for a wedding dress and they landed on the main websites home page it doesn't really look like we are specialists in wedding dresses as it communicates designer fabric and stuff. I have found it more effective to promote to the person only the information which they require.

So, with the 'networking', 'cross linking' and the warning re: this. What exactly is the wrong thing to do and what is the right thing to do? At the moment it is ambiguous.